Women are three times more likely than men to suffer from hyperparathyroidism (parathyroid disease). It is most common in women over the age of 50, though it does affect young people and men as well. Hyperparathyroidism is devastating is left untreated, and it often causes maddening and debilitation symptoms in many patients. However, the symptoms of hyperparathyroidism are different in diff ..read more

Life After Parathyroid Surgery Having to undergo surgery invariably generates a fair amount of anxiety. We wonder what it will be like to go through it, what we will feel like afterwards, how much pain we will experience, what our limitations will be, and what might go wrong. I perform surgery solely on patients with parathyroid disease with thousands of parathyroid operations being performed ..read more

Parathyroid disease describes a group of diseases in which there is an excess of parathyroid hormone. These conditions can cause bone loss, kidney stones, kidney damage, increased cardiovascular risk, bone pain, fatigue, sleep issues, brain fog… the list goes on. Patients with untreated parathyroid disease have a shorter lifespan, and their quality of life suffers greatly. What kind of docto ..read more

If you have primary hyperparathyroidism, you can have a typical or an atypical presentation of the disorder. Typical presentation (roughly 95% of our patients) will have elevated blood calcium levels with corresponding inappropriately elevated parathyroid hormone levels. Atypical presentation (roughly 5% of our patients) will have normal calcium levels and elevated parathyroid hormone (PTH ..read more

Wegovy, Saxenda, and Mounjaro are three of the new miracle weight loss drugs that make almost all people lose weight in a dramatic fashion. In a previous article I described 10 very different ways Wegovy caused weight loss for me and show how all ten mechanisms work together to cause a sustained and continuous drop of 1.5-2 pounds per week for several months. I called it a miracle drug because ..read more

Primary hyperparathyroidism is a destructive disease caused by benign growths of the parathyroid glands. It is is characterized by high parathyroid hormone (PTH) production and causes accelerated bone loss, kidney injury, and it is associated with heart disease and stroke. People with hyperparathyroidism don’t live as long, or as well, as they should. The mechanisms that control how calcium ..read more

Wegovy is the first of the new “miracle” weight loss drugs approved by the FDA. Wegovy causes weight loss in a remarkable fashion in almost everybody, but there is a lot going on to make this happen. The drug companies will tell you weight loss from Wegovy is due to its two main effects on the stomach and brain, but the drug companies are not telling the whole story about Wegovy. How Does Wego ..read more

Last week we discussed what it means to have hyperactive parathyroid glands, this week we will discuss what to do about it.  When it comes to hyperparathyroidism, parathyroid removal with a surgery is usually the treatment of choice.  After that comes parathyroid surgery recovery. As a brief review to set us up for this week, the word hyperparathyroidism just means an elevated parathyroid horm ..read more

Parathyroid Function: What Do Our Parathyroid Glands Do? What Are Our Parathyroid Glands? While most people have heard of and have at least some understanding of the thyroid gland and what it does, far fewer of us have ever heard of the parathyroid glands or have any clue what they might do for us. There is often confusion about this, with the assumption being made that the parathyroid gland ..read more

Parathyroid Gland Dysfunction  Last week, we discussed what our parathyroid glands do for us when they are working properly. This week, we are exploring what happens when they malfunction. As a quick recap, parathyroid glands are responsible for regulating the calcium level in our blood. To be more specific, they help increase the calcium level in our blood if it gets too low (the same way a h ..read more